On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at shutting down the Department of Education. The order titled 鈥淚mproving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities鈥 instructs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin dismantling her agency and return the authority over education to the states. This doesn鈥檛 come as a surprise, as shutting down the Department of Education was one of Trump鈥檚 campaign promises and he previously said that he had nominated McMahon to 鈥減ut herself out of a job鈥.
McMahon herself was also aware of her task, as her first act as Secretary was . In a speech given on March 3, right after her confirmation, Secretary McMahon hit all of Trump鈥檚 talking points with respect to education, talking about returning power to the states and parents, removing red tape and eliminating 鈥済ender ideology鈥, 鈥渁nti-American ideology鈥 and DEI. While stopping just short of mentioning the outright elimination of the Department of Education, her repeated use of the word 鈥渇inal鈥 made clear that she sees no future for the department she was just tasked with leading. 鈥淭his is our opportunity to perform one final, unforgettable public service to future generations of students,鈥 she addressed her new staff. 鈥淚 hope you will join me in ensuring that when our final mission is complete, we will all be able to say that we left American education freer, stronger, and with more hope for the future.鈥
Earlier this week, democratic senators had addressed Secretary McMahon in a , urging her to stop the already apparent dismantling of the Department of Education. 鈥淎t a time of massive income and wealth inequality, it is a national disgrace that the Trump Administration is attempting to illegally abolish the Department of Education and thus, undermine a high-quality education for our students," the letter signed by 38 senators said.
According to a r conducted by YouGov and The Economist, the majority of Americans is also opposed to closing the Department of Education. Two thirds of respondents in the survey fielded March 16-18 said that the department should either be expanded (39 percent) or kept the same (27 percent). At the other end of the scale, 13 percent of respondents said that the department should be reduced, while 17 percent called for its outright elimination. This is another example of the Trump administration and the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) seemingly overstepping their mandate. According to the same survey, 46 percent of U.S. adults think that Trump鈥檚 cuts to federal agencies have gone too far, while 25 percent think the efforts have been about right and 17 percent think they haven鈥檛 gone far enough. Funnily enough, 34 percent of respondents think that DOGE itself should be eliminated 鈥 the highest share for any federal agency mentioned in the survey.
